Why Netflix's Arcane was cancelled and won't be getting a season 3 (2024)

Arcane season 2 ending spoilers won't be found here.

When Arcane first arrived on Netflix in 2021, it took fans by surprise in more ways than one. Not only did it cement the idea that video-game adaptations could actually work onscreen, it did so by bringing to life one of the world's most popular franchises: Riot Games' League of Legends.

Just as season one proved these adaptations could be successful (Emmy-worthy, even), Arcane surprised us again after Netflix announced that the second season would be the show's last. Already.

The news was announced in June 2024 along with the first season-two trailer, five months ahead of Arcane's return to streaming. Critics and fans alike loved the first season, especially the animation, stunningly crafted by Paris-based studio Fortiche, so the news came as quite a shock.

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This isn't just a case of Netflix cancelling a show in its prime though: it turns out that the plan was always to end Arcane after just two seasons.

Speaking to Variety, co-creator Christian Linke revealed that Arcane marks "the beginning of our larger storytelling journey and partnership with the wonderful animation studio that is Fortiche".

He continued: "From the very beginning, since we started working on this project, we had a very specific ending in mind, which means the story of Arcane wraps up with this second season. But Arcane is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra."

At a time when more and more shows are cancelled after ending on a cliffhanger, or end up being wrapped up far too soon, it's rare and refreshing to hear that the end of Arcane is the ending the creators always planned — and the ending that fans deserve.

In a recent chat with CinemaBlend, Linke expanded on the reasoning behind this decision further, explaining: "We always had a specific story in mind."

"Look, you could have stretched it, I'm sure. But for us, it was always just like we started with this in mind. I think there's also a personal angle to it as creatives. We've all seen the TV shows, where clearly the writers are running out of juice. How inspired can you stay about the same thing, for how long? It's been nine years for us, with these characters. I think there's a responsibility aspect to this, also, where we're like, this is what we had in mind."

He added: "This is the story that we had in our heads that we want to tell. It's irresponsible to stretch this to a point where it feels like we can't even really do it justice. I think that was a big part of it. We don't want to overdo it."

Is Arcane getting a season 3?

As great as that is to hear, some fans might be confused by this as Variety previously reported that Arcane was originally planned to be developed as a five-season arc. Rumours have suggested that the cost of each individual episode, running to a total of $250 million to produce and promote, may have played a role in the show's abrupt end too.

In response, Arcane co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee cleared up the speculation in an interview with TechRadar, where Linke confirmed that five seasons was "never the plan".

"When we started building out the story after the pilot, that's when we were like 'Okay, it's going to be two seasons.' It was never the plan for it to last five seasons."

It turns out that these rumours might have come about thanks to an offhand comment made by former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent: "We had the pilot or a few episodes, but we still hadn't had the green light for a full season.

"At the time, Nicolo thought it would be really funny to pull me into a room and say: 'Hey, I know you haven't had the green light yet, and I decided I'm not going to give it to you'. I sat there, looking pretty upset, before he added 'Because I'm giving you the go-ahead for five seasons!'. We both laughed..."

Yee added that these were words of encouragement rather than an official commitment to five whole seasons:

"Making an animated series – it has such a long development pipeline that it was a lot for us to ask them [Riot's executive team] to trust us with one season. But we also said 'If you want there to be another season soon after that, we need to start working on it while we're finishing the first one'. So, that five-season joke was their way of saying 'Hey, we want to give you a lot of runway with this.'"

Five seasons of Arcane were never on the cards then, but that's not to say the world depicted in this show is over. Aside from the games this story is based on, Linke's original comments made when Arcane's end was first announced suggest that there's plenty more to come still.

So if "Arcane is just the first of many stories that we want to tell in Runeterra," what's next after Arcane itself comes to an end?

Given the success of this first League of Legends story, it seems likely that future projects will also be animated by Fortiche in a similar vein, thereby maintaining a coherent vision for this expanding universe.

Story-wise, nothing's been confirmed just yet, but with a wealth of source material to mine for inspiration, it won't be long until legendary storylines like 'The Harrowing Of The Shadow Isles' and 'The Ruined King' make it to Netflix. Let's just hope we don't have to wait another three whole years for the franchise to return like we did for Arcane season two.

Arcane seasons one and two are streaming now on Netflix.